


Missing time

by A_space_gay



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Hella, Multi, Plot, They're all alive, mid season two
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-25
Updated: 2018-05-25
Packaged: 2019-05-13 19:20:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14754761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_space_gay/pseuds/A_space_gay
Summary: A new life for Captain Jack Harkness was waiting outside the Torchwood hub, and it was eating chips.The bodies had been found all over Cardiff, written off as particularly violent wevils, but there are new shadows moving in the sewers, strangers stalking Torchwood members, something has been taken. They want it back.(Contains Janto, Tosh/Owen. Set just after Adam (S2 E5))





	1. Chapter 1

Mr Carmichael couldn't help but notice how odd the fellow in the queue behind him looked. Carmichael himself was a rather tall, burly man, he wore a loose suit with braces to support his trousers under his slowly increasing waistline, he rather had the look of someone who had been very handsome but neglected to keep that up.   
The man in question was almost the opposite build, his hat and oversized coat were completely out of their time, the very last man you would expect to find eating chips. Surprisingly this was the third time Eddie Carmichael had seen this man here on his way back from work, and he had to admit that it was more than a little alarming. He stepped forward for his usual order of a large battered sausage and chips, yes to the salt but hold the vinegar, and the stranger did the same, the exact same, large battered sausage and chips, yes to salt, hold the vinegar.

If Eddie thought back to the three previous nights he had seen him, he remembered him being three, maybe four people behind him, the second two, maybe one, never enough to hear his order but just enough to make a mental note. It was almost as if he was getting closer.

He shrugged it to the back of his mind as he began to walk away, he carried no hat or umbrella so the light drizzle made small damp patches all over him. Tonight seemed like a night for a light wander rather than the fast-paced walk he usually took. He caught a slight glimpse of the bay as he passed, shaking his head at all of the new attractions that were in place. He had lived in Cardiff his whole life and there had never been anything wrong with it before, all of the shops and lights seemed incredibly optimistic. Abruptly, he came to a stop, nearly dropping his chip papers on the floor as he did so; the shape of the man from the queue appeared to be silhouetted in the darkness for a split second. Sure it was nothing he continued, but far more on guard than he had been before.

He turned a corner into Bute street, making his way slowly down the road, becoming increasingly aware of footsteps almost mirroring his. He turned slowly only to catch a glimpse of coat swish around a corner, he was sure it had to be him.

As he made his way home, he made sure to text Linda so the police would have a phone signal to track if this man did turn out to be a murderous stalker, if he was a government spy then he was done for and may as well give his wife some kind last words to remember him by. Mr Carmichael wasn't a typically nervous man, he usually kept himself to himself and was fairly happy with his boring dead-end office job, at age 56 there's nothing better to be than content, that's what he always told himself. Tonight he was anything but.

He was still ten minutes from home at least, and the empty wide stretched roads didn't bode well for his peace of mind. The man was inconspicuous to anyone who wasn't paying particular attention, staying at a safe distance to remove himself from the situation. He stopped out of Eddie Carmichael's view and took a deep breath in through his nose, anyone who didn't know better would say that his back had an almost visible ripple run down it as he did so. Even after this brief Interlude, following Eddie seemed to be his main priority.

As the rather paranoid man he occasionally showed to be, Eddie Carmichael had firmly decided it was government interference, he always had a small piece of bluetac over any phone camera he owned to protect himself from this sort of thing. Though now sure he was being followed, he seemed surprisingly calm, his mother had always told him that he didn't have to worry if he didn't have anything to hide. He was most certainly wrong.

He began to walk faster, to test the resilience of the mystery man in typical slapstick fashion. Both pairs of footsteps slowly quickened their paces, the man staying an equal distance away as he had been when they left the chip shop. Eddie discarded his chips on a nearby bench as fast as he could, maybe hoping to free his hands for an attack if needed, the follower did nothing and ran still eating his chips as if it was the epitome of normality.

He began to sweat, wiping his brow as he looked around, desperate for help to be in a nearby window, or just desperate for any sign of life other than him and his follower. His movements became more erratic as he ran out of energy, spiralling in all directions but too scared to call for help, the other was still as calm as he had always been, slowly moving chip after chip under the shadow of his hat. "What do you want!" Eddie called, expecting to scare the man or at least make him jump but to no avail. He could have sworn he was speeding up. In fact, he was sure of it.

His scream of terror was cut short by a rough and spindly hand dropping the chips and darting around his throat quicker than he could convince. "Wh-o a-ar-e you?" He choked his eyes bulging with the sheer force, the stranger seemed to be able to hold all 6" 2 of him off the ground even though he was at least four inches shorter. "Vax" he hissed directly into Carmichael's ear, a flick of what felt like a tongue ran against his earlobe. He struggled to repeat the name, before settling for a second raspy question, "wh-at..?" Vax turned his head at a 45° angle in curiosity, or maybe he was just weighing up his prey, "you have it." He grunted, from the sound of his voice, Eddie suspected that he was a foreigner, drunk on a night out (although now was a good time to leave prejudice at the door). "You stole it, you know of it, I smell it on you!" He finished the last sentence with a deep inhale of Eddie's left cheek, earning a whimper of fright.

All of a sudden, the man's posture changed from calm to furious, a low growl emitted from under the hat. "What?" Eddie gasped, now fearing for his life, his voice over an octave higher then usual "please, please I-" he was cut short by Vax gripping his neck so hard he was sure his head would explode. Had he seen his face, Eddie would have known what was coming from the grotesque and toothy smile now forming. Unfortunately for Eddie, he did not.

*

"Jack, we've got another one!" Toshiko called from her desk, a newspaper article reflected from her screen to her glasses. The hub was quiet, only the slow dripping from the water feature and the click of Toshiko's keyboard could be heard. "Another what?"

Captain Jack Harkness stood boldly on the metal railings above as he overlooked the hub, his accent sounded American but was unplaceable. He stood with an air of authority, even though he looked so very much out of his time, although all in all it just made him that much more attractive. Tosh pushed up her glasses as she turned back to the computer, wasting no time staring at her boss in all of his splendour. "One more Murder, down Buke street, I think their getting closer Jack," She sounded worried, Jack had ignored the past few, but even in their line of work, something as simple as a murder could have a much more world ending cause.

"Until the kids file any unusual reports, I'm not sending anyone down there." He called down to her, a note of finality unmissable in his voice, however, he seemed to be spending more time looking at the time agency issue vortex manipulator on his wrist rather than being concerned about a possible alien incursion. "Jack, the wounds aren't consistent with Weevils, or anything else. If Owen were here, he'd agree." 

Jack sighed, making his way slowly down to Tosh's level, "Toshiko, we've scanned for rift activity, I highly doubt that the first thing we miss in 100 years will go on a violent murder spree." She looked as if she was about to open her mouth to protest before he cut her off, "But if you think it's that pressing, I'll call them down." Tosh tried to ignore his mildly patronising head shake as he made his way towards the hub exit, probably to collect Ianto, "But if it's nothing, you're going to have to explain to everyone why their day off was spent looking at some guys guts!"

Gwen Cooper lay silently in her bed, listening to the sounds of frying bacon from the other room and breathing in the scent with a sigh. She could hear her fiance, Rhys, singing along to some crap song from the 90's, she could see him now doing all his dancing and twirling about. If it hadn't been her day off, she thought, she would probably be in there right now grabbing that frying pan off him before he burnt the whole bloody house down.

Luckily for both of them, she was still wrapped up and cosy in their bed, 'snug as a bug's she thought to herself, pulling the duvet up to her eyes. Duvet days were not a luxury you could usually afford when you worked for Torchwood, she sure as hell wanted to savour this one.   
Right as she finished that thought, her phone went off loudly, vibrating on the table and earning a rather large groan from somewhere in the bed.

She moved slowly and mumbled a variety of rude words as she stretched herself over to her phone: Jack was calling. Fucking Jack

"Yes what is it what do you want!"  
"We need you in pronto, Tosh recons she's found something."

Gwen reluctantly agreed with Jack in her mind but was still very ready to fight for her lie in.

"You gave us one promised and full-day off, don't you dare do this Jack Harkness!"  
"I promise it won't take too long, just get your ass here now."

He hung up. "He bloody hung up." She whispered to herself in shock, staring at her phone as if it was an incredibly offensive item. She was expecting to spend the rest of the day feeling sorry for herself and longing for her cosy bed.

"Who's ready for bacon?" Rhys sang, dancing into the room with a spring in his step and two fry-ups in his hands, not great timing. "What is it?" He asked the tone of his voice suggested he already knew and had decided to be angry about it. She sighed, trying to look as apologetic as possible: "I'm really sorry love, I have to go in, they need me. One day soon I promise!" She knew she had won as his eyes softened. "Alright alright, go on quickly! But tell Jack to stop bloody messing you around."

*

Owen Harper awoke on the floor of his apartment with a banging headache, the fridge door was wide open and the whole room smelt stale. He was very aware of how weird his mouth tasted and how scratchy the carpet beneath him had been on his skin. The apartment itself was surprisingly clean (if you looked past the food wrappers in the kitchen) and seemed to be just as void of life as it usually was. He groaned, barely making an attempt to lift up his body, the events of last night were a total blur in his mind; there had been some music? a lot of lights that's for sure... oh and possibly an episode of Friends or two (watched drunk, of course). 

He stared at his face in the mirror, he looked haggard and gaunt, his dark hair was matted and flat on one side, he felt sticky. Nothing seemed to be going right for him these days, it was disaster after disaster, hangover after hangover, weird tasting mouth after weird tasting mouth. He rubbed his hands on his face, realised it wasn't going to help and decided to cut his losses by having a morning beer and then maybe he would go to a gallery or some shit to at least try and feel cultured.

His plain t-shirt and ill-fitting jeans complemented his mood perfectly, if he was more honest with himself he probably would have put it down to sexual frustration and loneliness but since that wasn't the case, he happily blamed work. Oh, and of course Jack.

He picked up his keys with a smooth motion and headed towards his door with a fake air of optimism, only to be stopped, hand mid-air, by his phone vibrating in his back pocket. He closed his eyes in pain, "fucking Torchwood" he whispered, before picking up the phone and putting it to his ear as bitterly as he could; "Owen."

*

Ianto liked to think a day off was a good thing, he could imagine Gwen asleep cuddled up with her fiancé or Owen out 'on the town' when he was sat outside the hub waiting for Tosh to leave and Jack to invite him in. His waiting also served another purpose that he was unwilling to admit because as it turned out, despite his relationship with the boss and overall helpful behaviour, he didn't trust them not to leave him out. He knew it was stupid to be conscious about something like that in a place of work yet he still couldn't stop himself feeling at least a little miffed when even after two years, he was still the pretty secretary. Although he had to admit, he really did like making the coffee.

He got an awkward wave from a passerby, probably someone who had come into the 'tourist information booth' once and recognised his smart Welsh charm. He liked to think a lot of people thought of him as the cute receptionist boy, although if he was perfectly honest there were about three people who bothered to remember his name.

He heard Jack's personalised ringtone go off on his phone and consequently had to hurry to silence it as it wasn't him who had personalised that particular ringtone. "Yes... Yes, what is it?" He asked, calming himself and trying to sound smoother than he could really pass for. "Oh, charming!" Jack laughed from the other end of the line, "we've got a bit of an issue, Tosh wanted to call everyone in." Ianto could hear Toshiko tutting in the background, supposedly in protest for being labelled as the one who had ruined everyone's day off. "I'll be right down." He hung up before jack could make a flirty comment and allow him to embarrass himself in public even more. Sometimes he hating himself for mornings like this.

*

Tosh smiled at jack with a smug look as Ianto hung up on him, "thank you, Jack," she said, turning back to her computer and a half-finished calculation that made no sense to any of them. "Well the sooner we get this out of the way the better." He sounded surprisingly grumpy for Jack, there wasn't a positive note anywhere in his voice and it scared Tosh, Jack bloody Harkness she cursed mentally.


	2. Chapter 2

They had all bundled rather unceremoniously into the SUV after their hurried arrival. Gwen had hair sticking up at every angle making her look as though she had just received a powerful electric shock (she felt that way too), Owen appeared to have two very similar yet mismatching shoes, Ianto, however, looked perfect as always.

"Okay, next left and we're there!" Toshiko called to Ianto from behind the driver's seat, gripping hard as he took a sudden and sharp turn, personally, she thought the speed was very unnecessary, the guy was already dead after all. The brakes were slammed and they came to a sudden stop at the side of a block of police tape. Jack rolled his eyes and smirked at Ianto knowing he had just about held back the urge to drift to a dangerous stop (had it not been for the vehicle's safety).

"Right, everyone out!" He yelled walking at top speed as the others followed, Owen and Gwen lagging behind sleepily. Gwen scanned the area for anyone she knew hoping that she could escape the chit-chat with an old police mate and just go home after this was done to snuggle with her fiancé rather than be knee deep in guts. Speaking of which, the corpse came into view and Tosh had been right, although it shared some similar traits with a weevil attack, there was no way something like Janet could do that. She resisted the urge to gag as the body drew nearer, "poor sod" she whispered, more for her own comfort than anything else.

They had burst through the crowd of, now slightly pissed off, police officers using the obnoxious all access Torchwood pass that never ceased to amaze them. The body lay exactly as his had last night, but already Tosh and Ianto had their tech out ready to examine and Owen was ready with his gloves. In this light you could see how the corpse had once been handsome, his sharp and square jawline covered with a layer of chub and his sparkling white teeth dulled by a monotonous diet of chips.

"The database is telling me he's called Edward Carmichael, works for the offices just past the Quay," Tosh said, leaving them time to take in the information, hoping to god no one knew him. "Poor bugger got ripped to shreds..." Owen muttered as he inspected the rips in Eddie's flesh, "I would say he died from blood loss but from the looks of it he has been dead a fair few hours longer than it would take for that to happen. More likely a heart attack."   
"Oh, and how can you guess that then." Gwen snapped, clearly not in a good mood with any of them and desperate to get it over with. Owen stared at her with a mild look of shock before simply stating "well look at him, it was clearly Eddie who ate all the pies."

"He hasn't been reported missing, should we take him in first or tell the wife?" Ianto asked. He was stood at least a foot from the rest of them, keeping blood as far away from his suit as humanly possible. "Look, maybe a weevil got too keen on junk food or something? Do a scan for rift energy and if we can't find any he's not our problem."

Jack also seemed cranky, more so than usual that is, and almost impossibly irritated by the man's death, Ianto gave him a weak smile while the rest rolled their eyes and Gwen almost visibly scalded him with her gaze. "The man is dead, jack, show some bloody respect." Unfortunately for Gwen, Jack got to walk away with a huge air of smugness and without the body of Eddie Carmichael, a decision that most of them disagreed with despite the lack of rift energy. Owen had his professional curiosity about the poor bugger, Toshiko knew the recent deaths had to be a pattern, but Gwen? She just hated Jack for not caring.

"Jack!" She yelled, grabbing his shoulder as he headed for the SUV and spinning him to face her. "Gwen, just go home" he sighed, clearly not wanting to fight, "we checked and it was nothing, now get in or make your own way back!"  
"You can't just leave him there, it could be our fault he's dead!"  
"Well guess what, we checked. And it's not!"  
"Jack it's always our fucking fault, everyone thinks there's something going on, even Ianto can see it!"  
"What do you mean 'even Ianto'?"  
Gwen cringed, knowing she had completely lost any chance of winning this argument now.  
"I just...."  
"Get in the car, Gwen."

The journey back was sat in awkward silence, you could cut the tension between Gwen and Jack with a knife. The others were surprised they survived all the way when Ianto kept taking his eyes off the road to look at Jack and narrowly missing a car or old lady. Ianto having bad driving was proof that something was up with Jack. On returning to the hub they had the same frosty atmosphere, the mood from the prospect of a day off had all but gone and now all anyone wanted to do was finish any paperwork form the last alien encounter or make a point of ignoring their co-workers.

"That guy really gave me the chills, he looked kinda..." Owen faded off, leaning against his autopsy table in a frustrated manner, "like Jack." Toshiko finished as her eyes widened, realising just what she had said and looked at Owen for confirmation. "Oh my god! You're right, he had the same face practically! That had to be something!?" Gwen chattered excitedly, hoping the other two would find that compelling evidence for something, anything. "It could just be a coincidence, Gwen, we don't know... Although I do think it's odd, there's a pattern in these deaths but no one's doing anything." Tosh muttered you could almost hear her brain ticking. "I mean, what could do that! I've never seen wounds like it..." They all stood there in silence, unanimously deciding to join forces in that moment, something was missing and they all knew it.

A cough came from the top of the stairs and they looked up to see an unusually tired looking Jack, "are my ears burning?" He had his hands on his hips with his coat gently swaying behind him, he had his boss face on, it was definitely a look to be afraid of. In response they all looked down like children who had been caught doing something naughty and walked away muttering excuses, feeling Jack's eyes burning into the backs of their heads. He stood still, keeping his captaincy over the room, feeling a soft hand on his shoulder and a gentle whisper in his ear, he stepped down. "Jack?"   
"Sorry Ianto, there's just some uh... I'll see you later" he muttered, pushing the Welshman off him and striding down to the games area, staring unnecessarily angrily at the pool table.

After a few minutes, Gwen walked into the room silently but not unknown to Jack, "what is it Gwen?" He asked bitterly, still staring aggressively at the table, he had his angry eyebrows. "Jack. You can ignore me all you want, god knows you have your reasons, but you can't ignore Tosh! She knows what she's talking about." The sentence finished on a softer note but the earlier anger was still rife in her words. Jack had no time for mindless mortal arguments, that much was clear; as he was blatantly far more tense than he ever was usually and it created what felt like a barrier around him. "You can't keep being like this, Jack..." She sighed, turning on her heel and pausing only momentarily to look back, hoping he would do the same. He did not.

The day had dragged on far more than was intended, with no one being satisfied by the idea of going home everyone had managed to find something to do no matter how monotonous. Ianto was if course making coffee, it was still only 1 pm yet it felt like forever, somehow coffee seemed like the last thing they all needed but of course, they were going to drink it.

He sauntered over with three full cups (a cappuccino, a plain black and a late to be precise) meticulously balanced on his hands, they all were aware that it was a skill none of them would ever understand. "Jack! Coffee!" He called in his thick Welsh tones whilst handing Owen and Gwen their selected drinks,

"Ahh, Ianto, good to hear your voice, always around when I need something hot to get me going!" Jack grinned, strolling out of his office and into the hallway (with an unusual amount of unseen commotion). "Its what I'm best at sir." Ianto replied, smiling down and the cup as he handed it to Jack, "I wasn't talking about the coffee,"   
Ianto smirked, "I know".

Owen shuffled in his seat and Gwen rolled her eyes, jack looked as if he was going to respond but he seemed just a bit too impressed. "As great as that sounds, I think Tosh is calling!" Owen said, jumping up and clapping his hands together and grabbing Gwen by the wrist. She gave him a glare and pulled herself out of his grip, she'd had enough contact with Owen of a lifetime.

"Thanks for interrupting Tosh, I was worried he was going to flip Ianto over the table right there!" Owen joked, holding his eye contact for a bit too long, Gwen thought (not that Tosh seemed to mind). "Right... Yes well, I wanted to check for any abnormalities passing through my software and it weird, for the past few days there's been no spikes in the data, not just anomalous results but the natural flux of the rift seems to have dipped completely!" She announced as if it was supposed to elicit some big response. "Right... And in English for the stupid PC?" Gwen questioned.  
"The rift isn't doing anything unusual, in fact, it's not doing anything at all."

*

Vax was crouched, waiting patiently in the dank back alley. His demeanour didn't suit the predatorial stance he held however he seemed to be at home in this animal like position. The whole area smelt of bins and the fading chatter of talk from cafés echoed down towards him, he snarled. Meaningless talk in a meaningless language when they had no idea what was really at stake here, no idea at all. Still, he waited.

He knew that the man must show up down here, he'd studied these people, he knew where the lowest of the lowest came and that was to throw up their guts behind drinking houses like the weak and feeble creatures they had shown themselves to be. Again he sniffed, hoping to catch that cruel scent he had been looking for. But he was interrupted.

"Look, mate, I don't care what's happened to your mam, if I catch you drinking from behind the bar one more time I won't be afraid to twat you into next week, now bugger off home." The man spat at the youth cowering in front of him. The open door streamed light into the alley, causing light to flood the area, Vax scuttled backwards like a cat. "Hello?" Called the worker as the boy scarpered into the darkness, his cocky dominance all but gone in an instant, the balding man didn't look like much of a threat, but he may be able to help him. He slinked forwards, standing himself up straight so as to not instantly scare him away. (Another thing Vax had learnt about these people, they were frightened of anything they couldn't explain). "You, help me." He called, pointing an accusing finger at the man who looked ready to run and slam the door, not that he would make it if he tried. "and I will help you." That seemed to change everything.

"So, you're looking for a regular movie star if you ask me mate, you won't find any of those around here. Thieves though? We've got a fuck load of those, help yourself as far as I'm concerned!" The man seemed to find it funny, Vax saw no humour in the situation and already began to tire of this pathetic creature. It seemed he could sense the awkwardness in the silence and so attempted to fill it, "what are you anyway? Some kind of Russian spy? Bloody Americans bringing their arguments over here... I thought they'd sorted that and all?" All this conflict, Vax thought, all this bloodshed that they talk of yet they scream when it comes to them, they shall not be missed. He stared, before moving his face close and smelling him gently, the man recoiled and he laughed. He slowly danced his tongue over the quaking man's cheek, feeling gleeful at the whimper of terror he heard. "Listen, mate... I... I don't want no trouble..."  
"You are a very boring man." He whispered, "that is your trouble."

There were no screams heard from inside the building, everything seemed normal even with the absence of a senior member of staff. "Johnny, go check on Steve and see if he's okay, will you! Oh and if he's having a fag give him a swift kick in the balls!"  
Unfortunately for Johnny, Vax was waiting.

*

"I know I've been... Off recently-" Jack stated, walking them all out of the building; "off's a bit of an understatement" Gwen whispered under her breath. "So-" Jack said bitterly, cutting her off, "I thought I'd take you all out for a meal, on the house!" He grinned, looking at them for a response, but it was deadly quiet. "Well, I'm never one to turn down free booze!" Ianto piped up in an obvious attempt to sway the conversation in Jack's favour, looking to the others in hope. "See, I can always count on you Ianto!"

They were offered the usual balcony seats that come with a pretty face and an access all areas pass, the vibe getting slowly more cheery. Ianto, Jack and Gwen were largely involved in a conversation about the rising house prices in the area, a topic which mainly Ianto seemed to find interesting yet Jack had an unusually good knowledge of. Owen and Tosh sat alone at the other side, and as usual, their conversation was work based. "You know, you spend too much time at that computer Tosh, it can't be good for your eyes, I bet you'd look knockout without those glasses!" Tosh blushed and instinctively pushed her glasses further up her face, "I bet you'd look better without guts on your hands and an offensive weapon inside some poor man's chest cavity, each to their own," she mentally slapped herself, she'd done it again, managed to insult him when he was nice to her. "Not that I..." She was interrupted by Gwen, "Guys, don't look now but there's a very panicked boy running straight for us." They all looked up in the same direction to see a young man of barely 19 with an acne-ridden face sprinting towards them. "Oh great," Owen muttered, reaching for his gun.

The kid ran straight for them, up the stairs and grabbed hold of Jack, "I've seen you before, you're Torchwood, aren't you?! You've got to help me, he killed Steve and he's going to kill me please I" he was rambling at the top of his lungs and breathing erratically. Jack prised his hands off his greatcoat and looked him in the eye, "look, kid, I don't know who you are-"   
"Johnny, my name's Johnny..." He interrupted, looking around wildly. "Right okay Johnny, we need you to be calm and tell us whose after you." Johnny's eyes widened as though he couldn't believe what he was saying, he simply turned and pointed, "him!"

They all aimed their guns at the sprinting figure immediately, ignoring the screams from the other customers around them, "I'll follow him, Owen, Toshiko, you go around and try and catch him off guard, Ianto and Gwen get the SUV... Now!" With that, Jack ran. It was clear to him from everything about this guy that he wasn't some rookie criminal, his dress sense was way out even for jack's standards and he ran like an Olympic sprinter on crack. The crowds parted as they usually did for an angry American holding a gun, not that jacket was in any position to notice as his target seemed to be moving at speed that were (dare he say) unearthly. Jack jumped cars, sprinting away from the busier areas to avoid all of that troublesome paperwork, trying his hardest keeping his eye on the target. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't keep up, he couldn't even get a shot that didn't risk hitting something important; "shit!" He yelled, stamping like a child as he got further and further away.

The others caught up as Jack stood sweating and out of breath, an annoyingly flattering look for a man of the 51st century. They all wanted to know what had happened, clearly there was something odd about this there was no doubt, but when Ianto stepped out to ask questions, all Gwen could see was red. "This is what always happens!" She yelled, marching towards him, "Jack bloody Harkness is just to good to ever let anyone else try! That poor lad was scared shitless, that could have been our man Jack you absolute shit! We all let you walk all over us but has anyone ever asked who gave you the fucking authority! You just can't let anyone else think for themselves can you, not even when it's people's lives, Jack." She spat, waving her arms in absolute fury, taking a step closer to him than was comfortable, "people's fucking lives." Jack glared at her, looking as if he had so much to say, maybe even a hint of misplaced admiration. "Go home, Gwen." She wanted to scream, she wanted to not let him get away with repeatedly svrewing over everything with his pompous attitude and American self importance but somehow she knew she couldn't. She watched as jack jogged off down the road leaving far more to be desired; tosh and Owen both looked at eachother knowingly, it wasn't like jack to just walkaway from anything. Ianto just stood and slumped in a very un-iantoish manner, he twitched when Gwen held onto his hand, "come on," she muttered, turning him away from Jack's shrinking figure. "Something's wrong..." He muttered as they walked back, "what's he not telling us?" Owen snorted in response, "when does he ever tell us anything?" He complained, which to be honest was very unhelpful but really all anyone could think.

*

Gwen had never been happier to see Rhys at home, he greeted her with a warm smile and a comforting hug that just made her think about how much emotion she wasted on Jack; "I wasn't expecting you home love!" she grinned and hung her arms limply around his neck, "Aren't you happy to see me?" she asked, a glint of cheek running through her face. "Oh, so it's like that is it?" He muttered, picking her up and spinning her into his arms. Screaming and laughing, he carried her towards the bedroom, truth be told it had been so long since they had been together that he could barely hold himself back. Gwen was never a girl to say no to a bit of surprise pleasure at the end of a stressful day. But no matter how fun, it was never a solution.

She lay flat on her sofa, staring at the ceiling and trying to get the uncomfortable events of that day our of her head completely, Rhys' charm once again turned to irritate her as he skipped around the kitchen. "I really am glad you're home love, I was beginning to think they'd stolen you again!" He piped up, turning his head over his shoulder for a fraction of a second as if to check she hadn't run back to the aliens and death again. "Rhys just stop." She muttered, still very much deep in thought, "oh come one Gwen, you always love my world class sandwiches-"   
"Just stop." She regretted her bitterness and took a second to move past her emotions, "please..."

"What's wrong Gwen? What did Jack bloody Harkness do this time?" She chuckled realising how Jack always seemed to be in an argument with one of them, it was at times like this she was glad Rhys wasn't so connected to her work. "He's trying to make us ignore something Rhys... something horrible. It's so bloody typical of him to not even explain and just expect us to follow, why can't he just let me do my own thing for once, let US do our own thing!" she stared at him expectantly, legs bunched underneath her from where she had sat up to look at him. He blushed, trying to avoid her eye contact as much as humanly possible, "It's probably just nothing babe, you know what he's like. Jack's just one big man period, if it's nothing... then it's nothing." he proclaimed, very sure yet unsure of himself at the same time, Gwen did not like it. "What are you saying?"  
"I'm just saying that it's nothing, that's all... all this murder and stuff, it's not always aliens, is it?" and before he had even finished the sentence he knew what he had said, "I never said anything about murder..." Rhys' eyes flashed with a dark look as he continued to avoid looking at her. Gwen was now stood, pointing a finger at him accusingly, "Rhys, what's going on?" She asked in her best stern police officer voice, the type you would use when telling someone that you're not angry, just disappointed even though all you want to do is punch their lights out. Rhys looked as if he was going to deny whatever it was but even he knew he was the worst lier, look at how well he'd done so far. 

"He said it was dangerous, Gwen" he snapped, "he said you were putting yourself in danger!" his posture changed suddenly from meek and scared to overbearing, but Gwen knew better than to be scared. "Who fucking said, Rhys!"   
"Well, who the bloody hell do you think!" He yelled, turning to face her, "you're always talking like you know about these... aliens! He's probably one of them so if he says it's dangerous then you are going nowhere near it, do you hear me!?" She looked at him for a second before stepping back, "you don't own me, Rhys Williams, you do not get to decide what I do." She grabbed her coat although she was basically in her pyjamas, "oh, and neither does Jack Harkness." Rhys instantly softened as he saw Gwen make for the door, "Gwen wait, Gwen please..." but she didn't look back, Tosh's floor sounded way more appetising than being anywhere near these men constantly telling her how to live her life.


End file.
